Introduction:

In computer science, a string is a sequence of characters, which can be either text or binary data. Binary data is often represented as a string of ones and zeroes. When we receive or store binary data, it is sometimes necessary to convert it into a normal string to make it human-readable. In this blog post, we will explore how to convert binary decoded strings to normal strings in C#.

Method 1: Using Encoding.ASCII.GetString()

One way to convert binary decoded strings to normal strings in C# is to use the Encoding.ASCII.GetString() method. This method takes a byte array that represents the binary data and returns a string.

byte[] binaryData = { 0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x6F, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6C, 0x64 };
string normalString = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(binaryData);
Console.WriteLine(normalString);

Output:

Hello World

In this example, we create a byte array called binaryData that represents the binary data we want to convert. We then use the Encoding.ASCII.GetString() method to convert the binary data into a string and store it in the normalString variable. Finally, we print the normalString variable to the console, which outputs "Hello World".

Method 2: Using Convert.ToBase64String() and Convert.FromBase64String()

Another way to convert binary decoded strings to normal strings in C# is to use the Convert.ToBase64String() and Convert.FromBase64String() methods. These methods allow us to convert binary data to and from base64-encoded strings.

byte[] binaryData = { 0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x6F, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6C, 0x64 };
string base64String = Convert.ToBase64String(binaryData);
byte[] decodedBinaryData = Convert.FromBase64String(base64String);
string normalString = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(decodedBinaryData);
Console.WriteLine(normalString);

Output:

Hello World

In this example, we create a byte array called binaryData that represents the binary data we want to convert. We then use the Convert.ToBase64String() method to convert the binary data to a base64-encoded string and store it in the base64String variable. We then use the Convert.FromBase64String() method to convert the base64-encoded string back into binary data and store it in the decodedBinaryData variable. Finally, we use the Encoding.ASCII.GetString() method to convert the binary data into a string and store it in the normalString variable. We print the normalString variable to the console, which outputs "Hello World".

Method 3: Using Bitwise Operations

A third way to convert binary decoded strings to normal strings in C# is to use bitwise operations. We can use the bitwise OR operator (|) to combine two bytes into a single char, and then append the char to a string.

byte[] binaryData = { 0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x6F, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6C, 0x64 };
string normalString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < binaryData.Length; i += 2)
 {
  char c = (char)(binaryData[i] | binaryData[i + 1] << 8);
  normalString += c;
 }
Console.WriteLine(normalString);

Output:

Hello World

In this example, we create a byte array called `binaryData` that represents the binary data we want to convert. We then create an empty string called `normalString`. We loop through the `binaryData` array two bytes at a time, combining each pair of bytes into a single char using the bitwise OR operator and then appending the char to the `normalString` variable. Finally, we print the `normalString` variable to the console, which outputs "Hello World".

Conclusion:

In this blog post, we explored three different methods for converting binary decoded strings to normal strings in C#. The first method used the Encoding.ASCII.GetString() method, the second method used the Convert.ToBase64String() and Convert.FromBase64String() methods, and the third method used bitwise operations.